Teleconferencing systems allow virtual meetings among two or more remotely located participants to take place using the existing telephone or data network connections. A simple teleconference may involve audio conferencing in which the participants share a speakerphone over a conventional telephone connection. In addition to the audio capabilities, a more sophisticated teleconference may involve videoconferencing in which participants can see images of one another during the conference.
Videoconferencing typically utilizes non-secure data lines for routing communications data among the participants. Accordingly, if users need to communicate sensitive or classified data, special arrangements have to be made before the videoconferencing can take place. For example, in the United States (U.S.), the U.S. Department of Defense's Communication Security (COMSEC) and Electro-Magnetic Security (EMSEC) guidance and policy requirements for providing secure and non-secure applications call for secure videoconferencing when communicating highly sensitive national security data.
Secure conferencing system installations, however, are traditionally labor intensive and require a site-survey and design by specialized secure integration engineers. In addition, the installations are usually designed with little consideration for ease of use. Frequently, a full time on-site technician is needed to complete the numerous “patches” and rerouting to transition between secure and non-secure connections. Thus, there is a need for a videoconferencing system (VTC) that enables users to perform videoconferencing in a secure and non-secure environment while maintaining features such as on screen dialing for ease of use.